<p>Nicholas Gavin is the Culinary Creative Director of ChefSteps, where he develops recipes and is responsible for making all the food look beautiful. Nick has worked at ChefSteps for over a decade; he and ChefSteps co-founder Grant Crilly worked together at Modernist Cuisine. Nick has worked in professional kitchens both in the United States and abroad, most notably at Mugaritz in San Sebastian, Spain.</p>

Nicholas Gavin

<p>Dense, moist carrot cake with cream cheese frosting is an American classic that was invented in the 1970s and remains popular forty years later. We’ve reimagined this dessert much in the way traditional chocolate cake reimagines flourless chocolate cake. Omitting the flour—which, incidentally makes the cake gluten-free—emphasizes a custardy texture that still has a cakelike quality and a pronounced roasted carrot flavor. The secret to this flavor is the addition of a small amount of baking soda to the carrots during the pressure-roasting step, which increases the pH and encourages browning. The layered cream cheese frosting is soft and far less sweet than that of most conventional carrot cakes.</p>

Flourless Carrot Cake